Jury's gem: Buckeye Central ousts Mansfield Christian from the postseason
NEW WASHINGTON - Todd Messmer had a big smile on his face Monday evening.
His No. 6 Buckeye Central Buckettes had just won their first playoff game in four years — and his first with them —beating No. 10 Mansfield Christian 12-1 in five innings.
"They came to play today, I was proud of them," Messmer said.
From the start, Buckeye Central was locked in with freshman Adrienne Jury in the circle. She allowed a hit to the leadoff batter Elisa McFadden before getting the next three to groundout. Olivia Bishop then set the tone offensively drawing a walk and scoring off a Faye Betts sac fly to center. That quickly turned to 3-0 as Aleyse Siefert singled and came home on Kaitlyn Best's RBI single, then Jury was walked and scored off Nora Lane's sac fly to center.
Jury sat the Flames down in order in the top of the second and the Buckettes proceeded to put this one out of reach in the bottom. Buckeye Central batted through the order with 13 at-bats and nine runs scored highlighted by Best's two-RBI triple, Allie Pifher's RBI double and an RBI single from Siefert — Siefert, Betts, Grace Collene, Best, Pifher, Lane, Zoey Haskins (twice) and Bishop all scored runs.
"That's a coach's dream," Messmer said of the offensive explosion. "We hit through the cycle and we've been working on our hitting to make better contact. It has been going well."
Jury then fanned two and forced a lineout in the third, struck one out in the fourth and stranded Abby Heininger on first, then gave up the only run of the game when Brooke Badgley reached after being hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on A.J. Basilone's groundout to the pitcher. Dakota Craner recorded the final hit of the game before McFadden's groundout to third ended the night.
"Eight unearned runs is not pleasant," Mansfield Christian coach Kelly Taylor said. "Three errors, bad timing, eight unearned runs and we would've been back in the game. That's exactly what we told the girls. We're young, 12 players of the 17 had never played varsity ball before and five returners last year was their first year.
"We've improved tremendously over the season and I'm very proud of them. They're learning and I expect much over the next few years."
Even trailing 12-0 entering the fifth knowing a run-rule finish was likely, the Flames never quit and that's all Taylor asked of them.
"Before we came out for that last inning I told the girls — let's score one — and they did it," Taylor said. "(Craner) who had the last hit never had a hit all season, so that was amazing."
Noel Cline struck out five and allowed seven hits, 12 runs, four earned.
"This is her first year pitching," Taylor said. "Last year she got into a few innings because we had a senior pitcher, so she is doing a phenomenal job as a sophomore. I was proud of her for settling down and finding a rhythm."
Jury also fanned five and allowed three hits scattered across the game. It was her seventh start of the season and brings her record to 3-3 with 21 strikeouts.
"We started (Adrienne Jury) trying to rest Grace for the rest of the run here," Messmer said. "She did a good job today with a three-hitter."
All nine starters scored at least one run for the Buckettes, Siefert and Best each had multi-hit games.
"It's huge for our momentum going forward for the rest of our league games and our tournament game on Thursday," Messmer said. "We started a freshman in right field and Jury is a true freshman, they're getting that experience for next year."
And now the Buckettes advance to face No. 1 Monroeville in a sectional championship on Thursday at 5 p.m. Messmer is hoping the rigors of playing in the Northern 10 will be beneficial against the Eagles.
"The competition at the start of our season was brutal," he said. "But I think it helped us. Our record might not show it but we competed.
"They're the No. 1 seed in our district. We scrimmaged them earlier in the season so we know what they have, we have to bring our A-game. We just have to battle and see what happens."
419-617-6018
Twitter: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Buckeye Central run-ruled Mansfield Christian in softball postseason
